The Justice Department has filed a motion to unseal a search warrant relating to the search of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, Attorney General Merrick Garland said Thursday.
Speaking for the first time since the search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in south Florida, Garland said, “upholding the rule of law means applying the law evenly, without fear or favor.” He said he personally approved the decision to seek the warrant.
The search is part of a probe into whether Trump took and retained classified records from the White House.
Earlier Thursday, the New York Times reported that Trump received a subpoena this spring in search of documents investigators believed he’d failed to turn over earlier in the year.
Republican lawmakers condemned the search, with Sen. Marco Rubio likening it to the behavior of dictatorships persecuting political rivals.
The Biden White House has said it was not aware that the FBI would raid Mar-a-Lago. And the administration reportedly was not given advance word that Garland would speak on the matter Thursday.
